Voices Heard and Mistakes Made
by EnnaSparks
Summary: It is the beginning of a new era. But what happens when the villains are as clueless and innocent as the heroes? Who has the right to judge them for the crimes they committed in another lifetime?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hi there! I'm Enna, and this is my first ever Merlin fanfic. I'm gonna go ahead and say sorry in advance for the strange formatting... I blame my uncooperative computer! Please drop me a line and tell me what you think.

P.S. I'll try to update ASAP!

She was standing in the middle of a battlefield under a dark sky. The sounds and smells of battle and death surrounded her, but she was not afraid. She had nothing to fear! No one could hurt her now. Victory and Camelot were within her grasp.

"Tara! Get your lazy butt out of bed this instant, or I'll send your brother up there!" Tara Middleton woke with a start. The hazy memories of her terrifying dream slowly fading from her mind as she rubbed her eyes and glanced at her alarm clock.

"Good God, Mom! I'm gonna be late! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" She shouted angrily as she took in her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red from her restless night and her long black hair was a ratted mess that hung about her head in disheveled waves. She sighed; it was going to be another one of THOSE mornings. She quickly rushed into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and did her best to brush the tangles from her hair. It was a futile endeavor.

"Oh well," she said to her reflection, "Another day looking like a Bellatrix Lestrange wannabe" she shrugged, "it could be worse."

"Bellatrix has absolutely nothing on you, sister dear,"

"Oh really?" Tara said to the smug looking blonde boy who was leaning comfortably on the doorframe.

"Yeup. You definitely win in the ugliness category, hands down."

"Thanks. Thanks so very much for making my morning complete."

"No need to thank me. It was my pleasure." Tara couldn't help but roll her eyes. Apparently her brother had decided to make her morning even more difficult by being a complete and total prat. Like he always was.

"By the way, Mom is in a seriously bad mood this morning. I suggest you get out of here as quickly as possible before things, hum, escalate."

"Thanks for the advice, but I was gonna do that anyway. Lincoln and I are taking the day off."

"You mean you're not going to school?" Tara shot him her best smirk.

"It's just one day, Alex, it's not going to hurt anything."

"Of course," he said sarcastically, "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Bye Alex! I've got places to go, people to see!" With that parting remark, Tara grabbed her backpack and swung out of her ground-level bedroom window. She was escaping her grumpy mother and was on her way to see her best friend. What more could she want from life?

"So much more, so much more." Said a soft voice inside her head, "You could have the world if you wanted." Tara shuddered. These events with "The Voice" were becoming more and more common and coupled with her frightening dreams... She wondered if she needed to get help.

"Nope. You definitely don't need help." Came a voice from somewhere behind her. "Coffee. That's what you need!"

"Lincoln!" Tara shouted excitedly, "Where the heck did you come from?" Lincoln Drury smiled at her with his perfect smile, his cheeks dimpling adorably.

"From the great beyond,Tara. It's a terrible and mysterious place." Tara grinned wildly and ruffled his dark curls.

"And did the fairies of the 'great beyond' tell you what I was thinking just then?" She said with a smile, already expecting his answer.

"Actually no. No help from the fairies this time around, I just know your many moods."

"Yeup, I figured you'd say that. Now, let's go get us some coffee."

"Right this way, my lady." Tara happily fell in step with her dear friend of many years, but it took her all of two seconds to realize that something was wrong. Lincoln's blue-green eyes were shaded with an emotion that she didn't recognize. Was it... fear?

"Lincoln, what's wrong?" Tara asked, her concern evident in her voice.

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Nothing worth mentioning at least."

"Tell me."

"I saw the old man again."

"Lincoln! This again?" She asked, with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Lincoln had this strange theory that this "crazy old man" with a long white beard was chasing him around town and watching his house. Tara honestly thought that he was getting paranoid, but she listened to his theories regardless. God knows that he had been forced to listen to enough of her crazy dreams and stories about "The Voice". That was how the two of them operated. They weren't just partners in crime, but also partners in insanity.

"I swear Tara, he's watching me!"

"Yeah, you're being stalked by Gandalf. Link, I've heard this before."

"But this morning was different. This time he spoke to me."

"What did he say? Good morning? Have a wonderful day? Excuse me?"

"Keep up the sarcasm and I'll stick the fairies from the great beyond on you!"

"You'll do no such thing. What did he say?"Lincoln looked at her nervously, almost as if he were afraid that she would be angered by what he had to say.

"He said, 'Be careful, she is the one that can and will corrupt your mind. She has the power to bring you to ruin.' "

"Was he talking about me?"

"Hmm... Well, it's either you or my mother..."

"Link, don't worry, I'm sure that he's just a creepy old man that has a thing for kids..."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Forget I said anything. Now, about that coffee..." From there the conversation became their typical banter, and the old man and his ominous warning were quickly forgotten. Everything that was frightening, strange, or outright bizarre was stored away in the recesses of their minds, quelled and forgotten for that one bright morning.

But bright mornings can't last forever, and fear always finds a way back to those who are arrogant enough to think they've escaped it. And no one knew this better than than the old man with the long white beard who sat observing the two teenagers.

It was beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Hey there! I don't know if anyone out there is reading this, but if you are and you like it, drop me a line! :)  
Oh... And I forgot to put this in the first chapter sooo...  
Disclaimer: I don't own the television show Merlin. Duh.

She was looking into the bright blue eyes of an old man, and she was terrified. This man, this powerful sorcerer, had been haunting her every waking hour since she had first heard his name. Emrys. Her destiny and her doom.

"Taaaaara... If you're going to drool, you're going to need to move your lovely face away from my shoulder. This is a shirt that I'd rather not ruin."

"Whaaaaaaaatttt?" Tara groaned grumpily. Sure, her dream had been absolutely terrible, but at least she'd been sleeping. Then, as was inevitable, she discovered that her position was a wee bit compromising. She seemed to have been sound asleep slumped against Lincoln, who was now smiling at her with his eyes alight in good humor.

"That was incredibly eloquent. Please, continue to amaze me with lovely poetry."

"Shut up. I'm really not in the mood."

"I can see that. By the way, who's Emrys?"

"I... I don't know. I just know that he scares the heck outta me."

"Hmmmm... So that means that there really is something in this world that frightens the great Tara Middleton... That's very good to know."

"This isn't a joke, Link! I was terrified of him! This Emrys person... He must have been someone that I knew when I was kid. Maybe he scared me then?"

"Yeah. I'm sure that's it." Tara was relieved. If Lincoln thought that this Emrys character wasn't threatening, then she wouldn't either. Obviously, he had to be a memory from her childhood coming back to haunt her. Yes. Yes, that had to be it.

"I think we'd better be going soon, it's starting to get dark, and unfortunately I know your mother..." Lincoln said, his face full of regret. Tara was disappointed. She always hated the end of a day like this one. She and Lincoln had traveled all over the town, laughing and goofing off until they had finally found their way to the park in the middle of downtown, where she had promptly fallen asleep.

"Yeah. You're probably right. Dad's supposed to come home for dinner tonight, and you know how she is about that."

"Do you think he'll actually show?"

"God, I really hope not. He's a complete pain in the ass."

"Why do you hate him so much? From what I've seen, he's not that bad..."

"He's arrogant and narrow minded. And he's caused thousands of people to loose their jobs! Just think of the sheer number of lives that he's ruined. It makes me sick."

"He really cares about you."

"I honestly don't care what he thinks. His opinion means absolutely nothing to me at this point."

"I think you should give him a chance."

"That's never going to happen, Link"

"Have it your way."

"I will, thank you very much!" And with that last parting comment, Tara made her way out of the park, a grim look on her face. As much as she wished that her father would not show for dinner, deep down inside she knew that he would. He had a way on knowing when she least wanted to see him, and he showed exactly on those days. It was time to face her father dearest.

Ulysses Middleton cut an imposing figure in his fine business suit, complete with a ridiculously expensive looking tie and diamond cuff links. His face was a chiseled kind of handsome, and a long imposing scar cut its way across his features. An old hunting accident is what he said caused it, but Tara secretly thought that he had gotten it in a bar brawl from his wild youth. As soon as she walked in the door he set his finest "glare of death" upon her and put his interrogation face on. It was time for the questioning to begin.

"Where have you been, Tara Middleton? And why are you dressed like a hooligan? No daughter of mine should look as if she's come straight off the streets. It's disgraceful to the family name."

"And we can't have that, can we." Tara responded sarcastically. Her father was under the impression that because he was a business mogul with tons of money he was royalty, and he expected his family to act accordingly. It was ridiculous.

"No Tara, we can't. You'll understand one day."

"No Dad, I won't."

"You won't?"

"I have no intention of ever becoming like you. You hurt thousands of people, and you don't seem to care at all! Your big-headedness has ruined lives, broken hearts, and crushed dreams. I can't stand to even be around you."

"You've been hanging around that Lincoln boy again, haven't you? He's been putting these ideas in your head!"

"Lincoln has absolutely nothing to do with this! He actually tried to convince me that you deserved a second chance. He couldn't have been more wrong. You are beyond redemption."

"Vivian! Get this child out of my sight!"

"No need to call her. I'll leave on my own. Goodnight... Your Majesty." Tara stormed away, her thoughts filled with nothing but hatred for her father. He had once been a great man, but then his sister had died in a tragic accident that involved one of the poor workers in one of his many factories, and he took his anger out on every single innocent person that worked under him. He began to force his employees to work in dangerous situations with very little pay, and he outsourced to countries where child labor was legal. He wiggled his way out of paying for the medical bills of those injured on the job, and he left many people in terrible debt. Others were less lucky. They died on the job at the hand of Ulysses Middleton. He was a business tyrant and an all around terrible person. Tara truly did hate him with all of her being.

Taking a deep breath, she took a look outside her window and she saw something that she thought was only a figment of her imagination. It was an old man with a long beard, and he was staring at her with ice blue eyes.

Her nightmares were leaking into her waking hours.


End file.
